Can this expiry date be for real?

[Chris Nielsen]

I was just rearranging my film supply in my small corner of a shared fridge and I noticed my bulk rolls have rather peculiar expiry dates. My HP5+ I bought 6 months ago (and haven't used yet, shame on me!) is dated sometime in 2012, but the one that got me was my brand new bulk roll of FP4+. It's dated Feb 2014. WTF?? That can't be right, surely?? That's like 5 years!! Is this straight off the master roll last week? Or do they assume we're smart enough to refrigerate it if we are buying bulk??

Am I on drugs again?? LOL

 

[Anon Ymous]

I have some APX100, not the Agfaphoto stuff with the red dot, but the one labeled Agfa with the rhombus. I assume it's from the very late production run at Leverkusen and it's dated May 2011. It seems that they gave it a 6 years+ lifespan.

No, you're not on drugs.

 

[railwayman3]

I get my Ilford film from a larger UK mail order supplier, who I'd assume has a quick turnover, and it seems that Ilford give at least four years from manufacture to expiry date on standard 35mm films. (My last order, last month, was May 2013 on PanF and Oct 2013 on FP4 Plus. The storage conditions marked on the cartons is below 24C, 75F.)

 

[Chris Nielsen]

Wow, I guess I'm just used to short dated film - those dates are insane!!

 

[Rhodes]

My fp4+ ended in 1996 and I'm still using it!

 

[Brac]

Black & white film lasts for ages but many manufacturers are very conservative with their expiry dates. Ilford typically offer a period of up to 5 years from when it comes out of the factory. In practice you can use it for years more unless you store it badly. As currently I don't have the facilities to process my own film, I had three 35mm cassettes of Tura P400 processed for me a few days ago. This is rebadged Agfapan APX400 and had a 2001 expiry date. They were actually exposed in 1999 and 2000 and had got mislaid in a house move some while ago. The results were fine and if I didn't know, I could easily have assumed they were new films recently exposed. I have had similar results with outdated Ilford films.